As I watch the election campaign news and read or listen to the political commentaries, I can't help but marvel at the in-the-race politicians abilities to talk the American people out of millions of dollars to support their campaigning requirements. Were talking from 12.5 million in one camp to 26 million in another and the race is a long way from over! These are donations from individuals or groups that wish to see a certain person, for whatever reasons, occupy the highest office of the nation. Single donations may range from hundreds of thousands from groups whose private interests could benefit from earning special favors from their elected official to a few dollars from J.Q. Public who has no hidden agenda other than just to see a decent President run the country for a while.
Apparently millions of dollars are needed to pay an income to all the varied personnel (who may have started out as volunteers) sometimes upwards of 30,000 dollars a year. There are high-dollar advertising campaigns such as television, radio, billboards, magazines and countless other avenues of creating the most prominent public image possible. Traveling expenditures would have to be astronomical as the politicians and their entourage moves around the country from city to city and state to state in synchronized movements that would make a formation of migrating Canadian geese jealous. I'm sure there are also untold instances where favors are bought as well as sold by the politicians running in such an important race as this. Even with all this, and probably expenses that the regular-Joe doesn't know about, I feel hard pressed to understand how these people could spend so much money on campaigning.
I often wonder, did President Abraham Lincoln or President Theodore Roosevelt have to have so much money? Probably not. Since our early presidents didn't have to cope with expensive advertising concerns, hundreds of campaign workers, extensive traveling costs, and so on, and so on, they probably operated on a budget that was less than the average American earns in wages for one month today. Running for President of the United States did not always require commitments to Fortune 500 conglomerates that their products would be priorities for the newly elected officials or promises of doors opened to foreign markets. However, Quid pro quo has been around longer than it has been coined as a memorable quote.
I for one think that all the candidates for President should have a set limit on how much they can spend on campaigning issues. And should be required to do their advertising through a private web site where anyone who wanted to know who was running and what they were all about could simply look them up and read about them. I'm sure that if they were put on a budget like the average American family has become used to depending on, they would quickly learn how to spend smarter and not harder. Campaigns might possibly be run a little more wisely and energies spent on mud slinging could well be put to more constructive uses. This could also be a very good indicator as to how well each candidate could handle the finances of the country while in office. Of course, not all voters have access to the internet, but a truly dedicated candidate could find some less expensive way to reach those individuals than routes being taken presently and that would be another feather in that candidates cap. Even debates could be brought to the public without being televised.
All monies raised beyond the candidates limits could then be divided equally between Social Security Benefit funds and Aid to Dependant Children. Every four years two new funds could be picked to be the recipients of this great countrys excess wealthand I say excess because if there are millions upon millions of dollars out there to be wasted on trying to make one candidate look better than another, then I say it would be better served if put to a more beneficial use. Imagine how popular a candidate that raised and managed to save the most money would be with the general public in a case such as this.
Campaign managers, I'm sure, would say, it can't be done, there is just no simple way to run a national campaign that is necessary to bring all the information to the voters that they need to make a rational decision on election day. It takes money and loads of it to get the word out there to all the places it needs to be sent. But, of course, campaign managers are getting paid the big bucks, too. And maybe I am way off base here, but I think that most Americans don't really care which candidate might have homosexual tendencies, or who might have smoked marijuana while in college, or who might have dodged the draft during the Viet Nam war; I know those are not my concerns when I go to the polls to vote. Every one has a skeleton or two in their closet and that won't make or break the country, the Bible tells us, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. That's not what we are about, we are a country that needs a leader who will work for the people and the greater good of the entire nation and not for himself/herself and what he/she wants or needs.
We need a President who will stop the waste, beginning with the politicians and our government, in other words, put their money where their mouth is and begin fulfilling all the promises they are making while throwing money away on building themselves up during the Campaign Follies!
Sandra E. Graham---author, Amos Jakey, published by American Book Publishing, soon to be followed by Nicolina later this year. Visit my website to check out my books and articles: www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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